Preface to the Second Edition

Most organizations understand the benefits that a longer-term approach to staff planning can bring. Many actually attempt to develop staffing strategies (or strategic workforce plans, as they are also known). Unfortunately, these companies often find that the traditional approaches to strategic staffing and workforce planning that they are trying to implement are ineffective, and that the expected benefits are not realized. To me, the solution to this problem lies not in trying to improve the effectiveness of the traditional approach, but in implementing a completely different kind of process for strategic staffing/workforce planning.

This book describes that process. It is a practical resource for both those who are just starting to implement strategic staffing and those who are searching for ways to make their current practices more effective. It can be followed step by step to initiate a strategic staffing process or used as a sourcebook that is referred to periodically to maintain or improve the effectiveness of a process that is already in place. It contains process descriptions, hints, tools, examples, and other practical advice. I’ve included only those approaches and techniques that have proved to be the most valued by clients and other practitioners.

Many of the ideas presented here were new when the first edition of this book was published in 2002. Five years later, those ideas are a bit better known to some, but most of them would still be new to many organizations. As I worked to update the text, I found that the basic direction and content of the process I suggest is as relevant now as it was then. However, my experience in the meantime has allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of strategic staffing/workforce planning and what the effective implementation of the process really entails. Consequently, I have significantly updated and edited every single chapter of the original manuscript. I have also included a wealth of new information, supplementing the existing material and providing eight entirely new chapters addressing issues and applications that were not covered at all in the first edition.

Some of my suggestions may still seem unorthodox at first, but based on my more than 25 years of consulting in this area, I know that they really work. Some of what I propose may challenge your understanding of what strategic staffing/workforce planning is and how it should be implemented. In some cases, I may seem to push the bounds of conventional thinking and challenge those more traditional approaches.

Needless to say, the workforce planning/strategic staffing processes described here are not the only ones that can be beneficial. Your organization may have been successful in implementing some of the very practices that I suggest should be avoided. In these cases, use my suggestions as a mirror in which you can reflect your practices and identify opportunities for improving the effectiveness of what you are doing. You may end up confirming that those approaches are right on target for your organization. On the other hand, you may find out that adopting some of my suggestions will allow you to greatly enhance the effectiveness of what you do.

All the pieces are described here: setting the context, defining staffing requirements, identifying and forecasting staffing availability, calculating staffing gaps and surpluses, and developing staffing strategies and plans that eliminate those staffing gaps and surpluses effectively and efficiently. Remember, though, that the successful implementation of a workforce planning/strategic staffing process does not depend only on how these basic components are defined. The “devil is in the details”—or (perhaps more appropriately in this case) the devil is in the implementation. It is not just the steps themselves that are important, it is how well they are developed, integrated, and implemented that counts. In addition to describing the components themselves, this book provides important tips to ensure an effective implementation of the processes I suggest.

One final note: Five years after publishing the first edition, I still meet HR professionals (some very senior) who do not consider staffing to be strategic in nature, especially when it defines specific plans and actions. I could not disagree more. To me, a business strategy that does not identify and address staffing implications is a strategy that cannot be implemented!

Good luck on beginning—or continuing—your journey!

Tom Bechet